I'm a minister and a sexologist. Yes, those words do go together! I am also the executive director of the Religious Institute (www.religiousinstitute.org), a multifaith organization dedicated to sexual health and justice. I hope you'll join me in exploring the connection between sexuality, religion and spirituality, and the need for sexual justice in our faith communities and society.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Today's Loving

My teenage children find it hard to believe that there was a time not so long ago when an interracical couple could not marry in the United States.I fervently pray and expect that their children will have a similar reaction to hearing that same sex couples couldn't marry as well.This week was the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court Decision that made it illegal for the states to ban interracial marriages.Today, a constitutional convention begins in Massachusetts to debate whether same sex couples should continue to be allowed to legally wed. Yesterday, many such couples witnessed in Boston about what is at stake. And what is at stake is the same as it was forty years ago...the right of every person to choose a life partner and to have that choice recognized by the state with all its attending benefits and responsibilities. Mrs. Loving, pictured forty years ago with her husband, offered this statement to Freedom to Marry:"When my late husband, Richard, and I got married in Washington, DC in 1958, it wasn't to make a political statement or start a fight. We were in love, and we wanted to be married. Not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the 'wrong kind of person' for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. I am proud that Richard's and my name are on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about."You can read the whole statement and see Freedom to Marry's brilliant new ads at their web site. You can read a blog from the Task Force live from the convention today.I also hope you'll take a moment to pray for the people voting today. What I know for sure is that where there is love the sacred is in our midst, and one day, justice on this issue will prevail -- just like it did for the Lovings and all the couples that came after them.